Direct Oxidative Amidation between N,N‐dimethylanilines and Anhydrides Using Metal‐Organic Framework [Cu2(EDB)2(BPY)] as an Efficient Heterogeneous Catalyst

Abstract

AbstractA crystalline porous metal‐organic framework [Cu2(EDB)2(BPY)] was synthesized and used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the direct oxidative amidation between N,N‐dimethylanilines and anhydrides to form tertiary amides as the principal products. The [Cu2(EDB)2(BPY)] exhibited similar activity as compared to that of [Cu2(BDC)2(BPY)], [Cu2(BDC)2(DABCO)], MOF‐143, and other common homogeneous salt catalysts. The optimal reaction conditions employed were [Cu2(EDB)2(BPY)] (10 % mol), TBHP (2 equiv), pyridine (1 equiv) in CH3CN at 80 °C over 2 h. The Cu2(EDB)2(BPY) could be separated from the reaction mixture by filtration, and could be recovered and reused several times without a significant degradation in catalytic activity and selectivity. Furthermore, generality of the optimal conditions was confirmed by employing various N,N‐dimethylaniline and anhydride derivatives.